“Do this in remembrance of me” are words we hear often. What exactly did Jesus mean his followers should do?

Jesus spoke these words at the Last Supper which was at Passover time. It was a special meal because of the imminence of Jesus’ death. If it were actually a Passover Meal, several cups would have been on the table. Luke mentions two:

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you.   Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”       (Luke 22:17-20)

Jesus took one of the cups and gave it new meaning, the New Covenant in his blood.  When he asked his disciples to remember him in this way, it could have two possible applications.

(1) It could mean: Remember me each time you eat a special meal together.

(2)  Since, however, bread and wine were normal constituents of meals in Bible times, it could alternatively mean:  Remember me every time you have a meal (i.e. everyday). It was normal for a Jewish meal to begin with the head of the household breaking bread and distributing it to those eating, as Jesus did at Emmaus (Luke 24:30).  In different circumstances on board ship Paul likewise prayed and broke bread and encouraged everyone to eat food (Acts 27:33-36). The meal would end with a prayer of thanks and with the cup being passed round “after supper” as in Luke 22:20.

The believers in Jerusalem at first broke bread daily:

...they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.                             (Acts 2:42)

...day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts....

(Acts 2:46)

Further on, in Acts 20:7, the believers “were gathered together to break bread” on the first day of the week on the night before Paul was about to depart. It is not clear whether this means they regularly met on the first day of the week, and only then, for the Breaking of Bread.  Nor is it clear at what point in history the Breaking of Bread became separated from a full-scale meal.  Some would see the distinction as early as Acts 2:42, while many consider that Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians 11:22 helped to bring this about:

For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?

                                                                       (1 Corinthians 11:21-22)

Paul’s point seems, however, not to be directed at stopping the Breaking of Bread from being part of a meal, but at stopping gluttony and selfishness at the meal.

It seems likely that practice varied among early ecclesias as to what was done, how frequently, and at what time of day.  If, however, such matters had been of any definite ritual importance, they would surely have been prescribed in detail.

So, when we break bread week by week are we carrying out what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Do this in remembrance of me”?

If Jesus was thinking of his disciples remembering him at a meal, then we do not do so in this sense, for the Last Supper was a full-scale meal. At Passover time, the bread would have been unleavened, but most ecclesias use ordinary bread.  Apart from in very small ecclesias, ecclesias in Britain usually drink from several communal cups, while a few ecclesias use individual glasses. In several respects, therefore, we do not appear to be following the specific practice as done at the Last Supper.

On the other hand, the particular aspects of the meal chosen by Jesus were the bread and the wine. To each he gave a symbolism associated with his own sacrifice. When we take the bread and the wine, we remember Jesus, meditating on many aspects of his exemplary life and on the sacrifice of that life which he made for us.

Is it important, therefore, whether we match the precise details of the Last Supper?  Does it matter whether the bread is leavened or unleavened, white or brown, machine-sliced or a home-baked roll?  Does it matter whether we use non-alcoholic grape juice or alcoholic wine, red or white, neat or watered-down?  If we worship “in spirit and truth”, the answer is:  No. What is important is to remember Jesus and live in him.  The bread and the wine help us to do that, but remembering him is much more than taking the bread and wine.

In John 6 there is a discussion between Jesus and the Jews, in which Jesus said:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.... This is the bread which came down from heaven.... ... he who eats this bread will live for ever.”     

(John 6:53-58)

These verses are often quoted at the Breaking of Bread, and it is appropriate to do so. They are nevertheless symbolic. As indicated earlier in John 6, the meaning of such symbolism lies in accepting Jesus as the one sent from God and in living a Christ-centred life:

“Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life....”

“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ...

“I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”                                (John 6:27-35)

The same message is given elsewhere in the Gospel of John, using the symbolism of water:

Jesus said to her [the woman of Samaria], “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”                  (John 4:13-14)

Other symbolical/metaphorical ways of describing the work of Jesus are in John 8:12 (Jesus is the light of the world), John 10:9 (Jesus is the door), and John 15:1 (Jesus is the true vine). Like all metaphors, these are not to be taken literally. They are different ways of vividly presenting what it means to live with a true understanding of goodness (light of the world); what it means to understand the true way of entry into salvation and service (Jesus is the door); and thirdly (the true vine), how to live a fruitful and Christlike life.

“You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” 

(John 15:3-4)

These descriptions, including the eating of Jesus’ flesh and the drinking of his blood, are vivid ways of saying that Jesus must be the basis through and through of all we do and all we are.

When, therefore, we remember Jesus in the bread and the wine, we are reminding ourselves in symbol about all that is important. It is not the actual act of taking the bread and drinking the wine but the spirit behind it which makes it worthwhile. The fact that we only partly follow the detail when we commemorate the Lord’s Supper is not something to worry about, for the reality lies not in the detail but in the spirit of remembrance and in the extent to which that becomes real in our lives.